United Arab Emirates

Normal clothes are fine. Shoulders and knees covered for malls and government buildings, and out on the dunes people wear what they would wear on any beach holiday. The abaya idea gets repeated online constantly and it has not been a requirement for foreign women anywhere in the Gulf for years now, Riyadh included. Keep a scarf in your bag for a mosque and you are done. Early September still runs around 40 in the afternoon, so nothing outdoors before four, and the five o'clock departures are the comfortable ones. Something people do not expect: the sand holds the day's heat much longer than the air does. At six in the evening a barefoot walk up a dune is about twenty seconds you will regret. Shoes on until the sun has properly gone. Your photo is the actual argument for private. The shared cars run to the camp on a fixed clock and you get to the dune when you get there.

What actually mattered when we took our two out there in October. 1. Head torch each. It goes properly dark about forty minutes after you come off the dunes and the camp lighting is deliberately low. 2. Wet wipes, a full pack. Sand gets into the phone ports and then into the food. 3. Sunglasses you do not mind scratching. 4. Long sleeved linen shirt. Does more for your forearms over four hours than sun cream. 5. Two litres of water each on top of whatever they hand you at the camp. 6. A microfibre cloth for the lens. I did not bring one and every frame after the dune bashing has a smear across the bottom left corner. If the evening slots have gone by the time you book, the Abu Dhabi mosque day is mostly indoors and air conditioned. The courtyard marble is too hot for bare feet at four in the afternoon, so time it late.

Ah Dubai. I routed via Istanbul both ways last autumn and the whole return came to about 190 quid, which I still do not fully believe. Nol day pass is 20 dirhams and you can ride the length of the waterfront on it for that. Dorm bed up behind Deira was 60 to 80 a night. Everyone tells you the place is unaffordable and then you get there and it depends completely on what you do with your afternoons. Four days is loads anyway.